Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hillshire Farms "Go Meat!" Review and Giveaway

The PR company that handled my last review and giveaway contacted me to see it I wanted to do another one, this time for a new Hillshire Farms product, Turkey Lit'l Smokies.

In my review package, I received a package of the Turkey Lit'l Smokies, a bbq apron with the Hillshire Farms "Go Meat!" slogan on it, and a Hillshire Farms 75th Anniversary Cookbook. (I tried to get my husband to model the apron and hold up the cookbook and sausages, but he refused!) The cookbook is 64 pages of recipes and cooking tips, and covers everything from grilling to making kabobs, and has recipes for all kinds of dishes, from soup to pizza to pasta, all made with Hillshire Farms products.

Hillshire Farms is also sponsoring a giveaway in which three lucky readers will receive a prize package with the same items--Turkey Lit'l Smokies, apron, and cookbook.

I cooked these today, and we enjoyed them while watching tv on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Since it was just my husband and me, I asked him earlier how he'd like to try these, and he requested pigs-in-a-blanket and some done "plain"--he is not a big fan of the cocktail wieners in sauce that most of us know and love.

For the pigs-in-blanket, since it was just the two of us, I used one the small cans of crescent rolls, and cut each triangle in 4 pieces.

Wrapped the dough around the sausages...

...and baked at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. (The picture above is how they are supposed to look. I didn't take new pictures of the step-by-step because I knew I had some from when I'd posted this "recipe" before. I did intend to take a new "after" picture, but you will see in a moment what happens when you forget to turn your million-year-old oven down 50 degrees below the temperature you really want it. They were saved in the nick of time, but just barely)

When I was a little girl, I can remember my mother hosting a bridge party where cubes of Velveeta and chunks of pineapple on toothpicks featured heavily in the refreshments. I thought it was so sophisticated to watch these ladies play bridge and eat their bites of food oh-so-delicately from their party picks. Ever since then, anything on a toothpick has always seemed to be the ultimate in Sophisticated Party Food.

So when my husband requested that I do some "plain" (in other words, without the sauce that I usually use), I just knew that sausage-on-a-toothpick would be on our menu.

For the "plain" ones requested by husband, I took the rest of the package and put them on a plate and microwaved them for about 3 minutes, then spread them out on some paper towels to drain while I cut some sharp cheddar and pepper jack cheeses into little cubes, and made a simple party platter. I picked up a pack of party picks at the store to use with these, but you can just as well use pretzel sticks--then you could just eat the evidence of how many of these you've eaten.

We really enjoyed our snack--despite the almost accident with the pigs-in-a-blanket. (They were still delicious, just a tad brown.) My husband thought these were the best little smokies he's ever eaten, he said they weren't as greasy as most cocktail wieners. I would definitely buy these and fix again.

For information on other Hillshire Farm products you can go to http://www.gomeat.com/ , where you can find more recipes, and see how to get a cookbook of your own when you purchase three Hillshire Farms smoked sausage products.

And now to the fun part---remember, there will be three winners, and each will receive a package with the same items--Hillshire Farms Turkey Lit'l Smokies, apron, and cookbook.

To enter, leave your name and email address in my giveaway form--the information will go straight into a spreadsheet that's for my eyes only, and will not be used for any purpose other than this giveaway. The winners will be chosen at random, and notified by email. Once you receive your notification, you'll need to reply with your name and address, which will be passed to a Hillshire Farms representative for the sole purpose of shipping you your prize package.

Would you like to have more than one chance to win?

For entry number one, just leave your name, email address, and a comment telling me which recipe you'd like to try, or what you think you might like to make with your prize package goodies.

For an additional entry, follow, or subscribe either by email or in a reader; then leave an additional entry telling me so in the comment section. If you already follow or subscribe, just tell me that in the 2nd entry comment.

Tweet about or mention this giveaway on your blog for a third entry--just be sure to leave a comment (on the form) telling me so.

This giveaway will be open until next Sunday night, January 24th, at 6:00 pm. If all goes well, you'll be able to get your package in time for Super Bowl snacking!

Are you ready?

Giveaway Now Closed

(Disclosure: I received the articles I listed above for free, but have not received any additional compensation for this review. The opinions stated are those of my own.)